Iraq’s Al-Qaeda confirms ties with Syrian rebel Nusra Front – reports

Iraqi Al-Qaeda has confirmed the Syrian hardcore rebel group the Nusra Front is a branch of its organisation, according to the US-based SITE Intelligence Group.

SITE quotes leader of the Islamic State in Iraq, Abu Bakr
Baghdadi, as saying that his Islamist group and Syria’s Nusra Front
will now operate jointly under the name of the Islamic State in
Iraq and the Levant. The authenticity of the statement could not be
immediately verified.

Experts have long warned that Nusra Front, which was blacklisted
by the US as a terrorist organization, has strong links with
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and probably predominantly consists of Al-Qaeda
fighters, who moved into Syria to capitalize on the turmoil in the
country.

The group has gained much power in Syria through engaging in
combat directly against government troops and local militias allied
with it. It claimed responsibility for a number of deadly
suicide bombings in the country, which claimed hundreds of
civilian lives.

The organization is estimated to have 5,000 troops in its
ranks.

The influence of Nusra Front was named by the US as a key reason
why it does not supply arms to the Free Syrian Army,
the relatively moderate and secular anti-government armed group in
Syria. Washington was concerned the shipments would end up in the
hands of the terrorists and used against Americans and their
allies.